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Dr. Paul A. Bertin, Ph.D. is the co-founder, President, and Chief Technology Officer of Grove Biopharma, where he applies more than 15 years of experience in startup leadership and R&D management to advancing a novel therapeutic modality. Prior to co-founding Grove Biopharma, Dr. Bertin served as Director of Innovation at Elevance, where product innovations he led contributed to over 20% of the company’s total revenue. Among his scientific achievements, he played a key role in developing a fine chemical intermediate for peptide APIs through the metathesis of natural oils. Dr. Bertin is an inventor on 40 U.S. patents and the author of 18 peer-reviewed publications. 

Dr. Bertin earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Northwestern University, where his research focused on the design of metathesis-based polymer nanostructures for targeted drug delivery. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and business from Miami University in Ohio. 

At Grove Biopharma, Dr. Bertin helps drive the company’s proprietary Bionic Biologics™ platform, which engineers synthetic protein-scale molecules capable of penetrating cells to modulate intracellular protein-protein interactions — historically some of the most challenging targets in drug development. Grove’s approach aims to unlock new therapeutic possibilities for cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and other unmet medical needs by combining biologic function with precision synthetic design.  

Under Dr. Bertin’s scientific leadership, the company recently closed a $30 million Series A financing round led by DCVC Bio with broad institutional participation, funds that are being used to advance its lead oncology programs and expand its platform toward clinical milestones. Grove has also expanded its footprint in Chicago’s burgeoning life sciences ecosystem, establishing a larger headquarters and R&D lab space in Fulton Market to support continued growth and innovation. 

Jayant Kulkarni is the Chief Executive Officer of Quartzy, a leading lab operations platform trusted by life science teams to manage purchasing, inventory, and lab workflows more efficiently. As CEO, Jayant leads the company’s vision to modernize the operational backbone of scientific research, helping labs reduce administrative burden and operate with greater visibility and control. 

Under Jayant’s leadership, Quartzy has continued to scale its platform and expand adoption across biotech, pharma, and academic research organizations. The company has grown into a widely used solution supporting thousands of labs, streamlining how teams procure supplies, track inventory, manage vendors, and stay compliant — all within a single, user-friendly system. Quartzy’s growth reflects the increasing demand for smarter, more integrated tools that allow scientists to focus less on operations and more on discovery. 

Jayant is deeply focused on building customer-centric technology that evolves alongside the needs of modern R&D teams. By investing in product innovation, partnerships, and platform scalability, he has helped position Quartzy as a foundational infrastructure layer for life science research organizations of all sizes. 

Jane Liu, Ph.D. is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BRT Biotechnologies, Inc., an early-stage biotech company developing novel platforms to accelerate drug discovery and expand access to diverse chemical matters for functional screening. As CEO, Jane leads the company’s strategic vision, scientific mission, and operational growth efforts. 

With more than 20 years of experience as a biochemist in both academic and industry settings, Jane has built BRT around a differentiated approach to small-molecule library synthesis that supports high-throughput discovery efforts. She organized a complementary team of scientists, consultants, and advisors, filed key patent applications for the company’s core technology (including the BRiTeCycle™ platform), and raised capital to support the company from its inception. 

Under Jane’s leadership, BRT Biotechnologies has continued to advance its proprietary technologies to address longstanding challenges in early-stage drug discovery — particularly the need for more diverse, ready-to-screen chemical libraries that can feed functional screens and accelerate hit-to-lead optimization. 

In addition to her work at BRT, Jane is recognized — including by Women In Bio organizations — for her leadership and contributions to the life sciences community, where she champions innovation and supports broader efforts to advance biotech entrepreneurship and research. 

Mark Kwatia is Director of Reagents & Biologics Procurement at Abbott, where he has spent nearly two decades building a career that spans scientific research, product development, cost strategy, and enterprise-level procurement. In his current role, Mark leads the formulation and execution of global procurement strategy for reagents and biologics across Abbott’s businesses, driving cross-business leverage, mitigating risk, and influencing supplier selection for R&D new product introductions worldwide. 

Throughout his long tenure at Abbott, Mark has held a series of progressively senior roles that reflect both deep technical expertise and strong business leadership. He has led gross margin improvement programs, built and applied product cost models to influence design and manufacturing decisions, and managed worldwide commercial launches of clinical chemistry products through close coordination with cross-functional teams across R&D, quality, regulatory, finance, marketing, and manufacturing. 

Mark began his career in hands-on scientific roles, designing diagnostic assays and developing biologics manufacturing processes, including cell culture processes for antibody production that were successfully transferred to manufacturing sites. Prior to joining Abbott, he spent nearly a decade at the University of Illinois at Chicago in research specialist roles, supporting academic research efforts. 

With a career rooted in Abbott’s innovation ecosystem, Mark brings a unique perspective that bridges early-stage science with large-scale operational execution, enabling the translation of R&D innovation into commercially viable, sustainable outcomes. 

Jamie Shah is the President of her family’s business, Chem-Impex, a distributor and manufacturer of high purity laboratory chemicals, specializing in amino acids used in peptide synethesis. Prior to Chem-Impex, Shah was the Chief Operating Officer of The Spice House. She was also previously the lead associate at Hyde Park Angels and Hyde Park Venture Partners, and was selected as a Kauffman Fellows Finalist. She started her career at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker in the consumer retail group, and then was a financial analyst for Google Maps.

In addition to teaching Outperform & Outlast:  Operating and Investing in Closely Held Businesses at Booth, Shah is a Polsky Center Entrepreneur in Residence where she provides mentorship and coaching to University of Chicago students interested in exploring topics related to family business and long term ownership and operations.

Shah earned a dual degree (BBA and BS) from The University of Wisconsin – Madison in finance, investments, and banking and Spanish literature and language, and an MBA from Chicago Booth.  In 2023, Shah was selected as one of Family Business Magazine's Transformational Women in Business. 

Shah serves on the University of Wisconsin's Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship Advisory Board and resides in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago with her husband, Anish, and their two children Rowan (an adventurous second grader at The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools) and Sona (an inquisitive pre-schooler at Near North Montessori).

Nick is the Chief Executive Officer of AddGraft Therapeutics, a seed-stage skin cell therapy company, where he leads the company’s strategic vision and oversees all managerial and operational decisions. He also serves as a Research Strategy Consultant at Arcadia Science and sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of Project Insulin, supporting efforts to expand access to low-cost biosimilar insulin. 

Nick brings a multidisciplinary background spanning academic research, biotech R&D, venture diligence, and early-stage company building. He has held innovation-focused roles including Entrepreneurial Lead at Alveothera and Innovation Fellow at Scion Life Sciences, where he led customer discovery, landscape diligence, and concept development for new biotech ventures. He has also supported early-stage investment diligence as a Bio Fellow at Insight Partners and Senior Analyst at Kendall Capital Partners. 

Nick earned his Ph.D. in Biophysical Sciences from the University of Chicago, where his research focused on protein conformational dynamics using experimental and computational approaches. Earlier in his career, he held industry research roles at Rubius Therapeutics, ImmunoGen, and Genentech, working on protein engineering, conjugation chemistry, and antibody-drug conjugate development. 

Gabriela (Gaby) Coy was born in Bogotá, Colombia, where she earned her bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted research in the laboratory of Professor Javier Eduardo García Castañeda, focusing on the synthesis of amino acids for aqueous solid-phase peptide synthesis.

During her undergraduate training, she joined Purdue University as a visiting scholar under the mentorship of Professor Ryan Altman. She worked as a synthetic chemist on projects involving the photochemical hydroalkoxylation of gem-difluoroalkenes.

Gaby is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Purdue University in Professor Betsy Parkinson's laboratory. Her research focuses on natural product-inspired cyclic peptides with activity against free-living amoebae, as well as the design of stapled peptides to disrupt protein–protein interactions relevant to cardiac diseases.

Rida Ibrahim is a PhD candidate in Organic Chemistry at Iowa State University in the VanVeller Lab. She completed her BS and MS in Chemistry from Kinnaird College and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Lahore, Pakistan. Her current research focuses on developing innovative synthetic strategies for backbone modification of peptides with particular emphasis on the direct installation of amidines to expand the chemical diversity and functional potential of peptides.

Beyond her research, Rida is actively involved in academic leadership as the Senator for Chemistry in the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, where she advocates for graduate student interests. She is passionate about mentorship, collaboration, and fostering an inclusive scientific community. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and exploring the outdoors.

Dr. Brenson Jassim received his B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Magna Cum Laude from the University of Georgia, where he obtained rigorous training in all facets of drug discovery and development. He went on to attend Purdue University, where he received his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry for his work on synthetic medicinal chemistry, lead optimization, and computer-aided drug design for protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitors.

Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Purdue University working on discovery, design, and preclinical development of peptide therapeutics for various unmet medical needs. Concomitantly, Brenson completed his Graduate Certificate in Biotechnology Quality and Regulatory Compliance and plans to continue for his M.S. in Biotechnology Innovation and Regulatory Science.

He also holds numerous Schrödinger certificates in computer-aided drug design techniques and is completing the entrepreneurial education NIH Commercialization Program (C3i) to aid in forming a startup company. Ultimately, his goal is to translate innovative peptide therapeutics for organ injury to patients utilizing an integrated drug discovery and development approach.

Stephen Klawa grew up in northern Virginia and earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Shenandoah University. He then moved to North Carolina to pursue his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where his research focused on the design and applications of protein-mimetic peptides for therapeutics, diagnostics, and responsive biomaterials. His work emphasized bridging fundamental chemistry with real-world biomedical challenges, exploring how engineered peptides can mimic natural protein functions while improving stability and efficacy to enable innovative solutions.

Currently, he is a scientist at ChromaGenix, where he contributes to scaling up peptide-based affinity chromatography resins used for the purification of advanced modality therapeutics. Outside of his professional work, he enjoys traveling, hiking, and riding his motorcycle.

Ananya is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemistry at the University of Virginia, where her research focuses on the design and synthesis of macrocyclic and stapled peptides as emerging modalities for therapeutic development. Her work sits at the interface of chemical biology and peptide chemistry, with a focus on understanding how molecular structure influences cellular permeability and biological function.

She develops synthetic strategies, including Pd-catalyzed C–C stapling and bioorthogonal click chemistry, to access conformationally constrained peptide architectures. A central goal of her research is to uncover structure–accumulation relationships that can guide the rational design of peptides with improved intracellular access; one of the key challenges in advancing peptide therapeutics.

Beyond the bench, she is actively involved in mentorship and scientific service, supporting undergraduate research and contributing to broader academic initiatives. Through her work, she aims to connect fundamental chemistry with translational impact and help shape the next generation of peptide-based medicines.

David Sarabia-Castillo is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working in the laboratory of Bradley L. Pentelute. Raised in Mexia, Texas, he developed an early drive to pursue science as a means of expanding access to opportunity in under-resourced communities.

His research focuses on developing technologies that expand access to complex synthetic biopolymers while enabling precise control over their composition and structure in biologically relevant environments. Using automated flow-based synthesis, he has achieved the total chemical synthesis and folding of functional luciferase enzymes. In parallel, he developed an automated flow microscale synthesizer for the synthesis of peptide nucleic acids (PNA).

His current work investigates how PNA backbone composition influences self-assembly and biological function, with the goal of establishing PNA as a programmable platform for nanotechnology, molecular sensing, and therapeutic development. Beyond research, he is deeply committed to mentorship and outreach, supporting students from rural communities in accessing higher education and broadening access to scientific opportunities.

Deborah Thomas received her B.S. in Chemistry from Florida Atlantic University, where her undergraduate research project focused on the synthesis of novel fluorescent lipid probes for live-cell imaging, with a focus on studying lipid trafficking to better understand their role in disease progression.

Interested in learning more about how to develop therapeutics targeting protein-protein interactions, she is pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago in the Department of Chemistry, conducting research in the development of peptide inhibitors for transcription factors, using rational structure-based design, utilizing chemical modifications to improve their pharmacological properties, and evaluating their activity in biological systems. Post-graduation she hopes to continue working on therapeutic biologics, particularly for challenging targets that are considered undruggable by traditional small molecules.

Jacob is a recent graduate of the Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology program at the University of Pittsburgh, and has a passion for seeing how things work on the atomic scale. His thesis involved making model enzymes one amino acid at a time via solid phase peptide synthesis and incorporating noncanonical amino acids to tune their movements and investigate the effect on their speed.

He worked in the Horne Lab for the last 6 years translating his undergraduate experience setting crystal trays into a full time research career, meeting lots of great collaborators and mentees along the way. He is excited for the next opportunity to further his skills developing new assays and bioanalytical chemistry tools. Outside of the lab he is an avid home cook, has a Chess.com rating of 576, and has developed a phenomenal playlist for 2010s dance music.